Efrén Hernández Arias

EFRÉN HERNÁNDEZ ARIAS (Caracas, 1980) holds a degree in architecture from the Universidad Central de Venezuela (UCV). He studied art and earned a Strategic Negotiation Diploma from IESA. His work as a photographer has been prominently featured in portraits and chronicles and has appeared in newspapers and magazines like El Nacional (Venezuela), Últimas Noticias (Venezuela), Clarín (Argentina), Reforma (Mexico), El Librero (Venezuela and Colombia), and Gatopardo (Colombia). He has participated in book projects, including photography collections, for Alfa, Alfaguara, Random House Publishers, the Foundation for Urban Culture, and the International Book Fair in Guadalajara. He has exhibited his work twice. Currently he is developing several projects, including: "Daily Life: honor to everyday life"; "Kick," which captures ordinary people around the world playing soccer; "Vi.VE" portraits of people in Venezuela who, like him, have been victims of violence and have received gunshot wounds; and others. A small sample of his work is available on his website and on Instagram.

Efrén Hernández Arias

NODES: PETARE ROUNDABOUT

NODO: REDOMA DE PETARE

NODES ARE THE MOST important points of intersection, transshipment, and meeting places for the population in urban areas, harboring strong feelings of diversity among locals of each site.

This is a project that begins with the node La Redoma de Petare. Located in the municipality of Sucre in Caracas, Venezuela, the space called La Redoma is the preamble to one of the largest popular neighborhoods (barrios) in Latin America and one of the busiest areas of the country.

This is a series of micro-stories in images linked by their location and by the people who pass through the area to go to their homes, jobs, the popular market, going in or out beyond their barrios, which have a population of over 500,000 people.¹ Among those living in the neighborhood and those just passing through. Among those who believe it is a local heritage and those who think of it as their daily disorder. Among those who are engaged in their networks and those who want to go unnoticed. However, it seems that the convergence point is not just based on mobility. Petare does not escape the reality of a nation that is plagued by crime. Being that Petare is one of the largest and most dangerous neighborhoods in Latin America,² unrest is a daily part of life for pedestrians who only hope to return home safely. Haste is mandatory and empathy hides behind faces of those whom people suspect of dubious intentions.

“The Mariches, an indigenous group belonging to the Caribbean linguistic family, inhabited these lands until 1573, when its principal chief was killed” by the Spanish conquerors. Petare was founded in 1621 at the crossing of Camino Real “from Caracas, El Hatillo, and Baruta to Guarenas and Mariches,” making it a place of dynamic exchange of agricultural products and general merchandise.³

Until the early ’50s of the past century, the area maintained “the bucolic stamp of colonial-style houses and warm temperatures,” until the old Camino Real became the Avenida Francisco de Miranda. This brought additions and improvements in public services as well as “a violent process” of population growth, “caused by the replacement of large plantations by modern housing estates, industrial zones,” and townships that have remained until the present.⁴